This invention relates to buttonholing attachments for sewing machines, and in particular, to those devices which establish the size of the buttonhole to be sewn.
Buttonhole gauges, in themselves, are not new. One such device attachable to the presser bar of a sewing machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,137,254 of Enos et al. This device, which extends rearwardly from the presser bar, holds a button and positions a guide which, after sewing is commenced, will align with the trailing end of the stitching indicating that the proper length of buttonhole, for the button selected, has been achieved. This type of indication, however, being rearward of the stitching point, may create problems for the operator. When performing a sewing operation, the operator's attention is normally directed primarily at or in advance of the point where the sewing needle is penetrating the material and, moreover, the stitching rearwardly of the stitching point is hidden by the presser device. This being so, the stitching is apt to progress past the indicator of the Enos device without the operator noticing the same. In addition, by being stationary with respect to the sewing machine, the Enos device does not lend itself to being used with a sewing machine having an automatic buttonholing device as, for example, described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,246 by Castner et al.